Piracy trial under way in Hamburg, first in 400 years

AFTER A 400-year hiatus, Hamburg’s first modern piracy trial got under way in the port city yesterday.

Ten Somali men are accused of attacking a German-registered ship in the Indian Ocean, east of the Horn of Africa, on Easter Monday this year with the intention of holding the 15-man crew to ransom.

Crew members of the Taipan container ship took refuge in an onboard panic room, a sealed compartment inaccessible from the outside, while the alleged pirates were arrested by Dutch naval forces four hours later.

Before the trial can begin, the court has to clarify the identities of the accused, starting yesterday with establishing their age.

“I was born in 1986, in the rainy season,” said one, Abdil Fata A. Another said: “I was born under a tree, I think I’m 20.”

The lawyer for one of the accused claims his client is 13, one year below the age of criminal responsibility in Germany. The prosecution says he is 18.

In addition, the court must establish the legality of the arrests in international waters by the Dutch forces. They transported the men to the Netherlands and then extradited them to Germany in June.

Little is known about the men, most of whom have described themselves as unemployed fishermen. Defence lawyers for the men argue that the Hamburg trial will do nothing to address the underlying causes of the surge in piracy in recent years.

According to the London-based International Maritime Bureau, 23 vessels and 500 crew are currently in the hands of Somali pirates.

“Somalia is a country stricken by civil war since 1991 and dubbed a ‘failed state’ by the UN,” said defence lawyer Philipp Napp in an opening statement.

“We have to look at how the living conditions of the accused have been affected by predatory industrial fishing by Europeans and Asians, as well as dumping of toxic waste around Somali shores.”

German piracy experts are doubtful that the trial would have a deterrent effect: many would-be pirates see attacking ships as a high-benefit, low-risk game, even if they are convicted.

“Spending three, five, even seven years in a European or American jail followed by political asylum – you can’t do much better as a Somali man,” said piracy expert at Germany’s Institute for Economic Research Anja Shortland to AFP news agency.

Not so lucky the convicted pirates of old: they were beheaded in Hamburg’s market square.